Normally, countries are able to respond quite well to financial distress by devaluing their currency (essentially printing more money). Why didn't countries like Spain, Portugal, and Greece just do this in response to the 2008 global financial crisis? All of these answers are correct. Because as Eurozone members, they no longer had their own currency to print. Because they were too proud and did not want to admit to the world that they were in financial distress. Because the United States threatened to invade them if they did. Because they still use gold and silver coins as their currency, rather than paper money.

The Global Financial Crisis of 2008 was initiated by a crisis in the US housing market. From the United States, it spread to the rest of the world. Banks across the world incurred losses and sought government assistance to bail them out of the crisis. Millions of people lost their jobs as countries experienced a deep recession.